Ongoing History Daily: What makes an earworm stick in your head? (Part 1)

An earworm occurs when a loop of a song, usually about 20 seconds or so, gets stuck in your head. Why does that happen?

There are several possible triggers, including environmental. It could be that you’re somewhere that somehow brings up a memory attached to a song. If that song is extra-repetitive in its construction, the stronger the earworm. This is because our brains are wired to recognize patterns. The patterns in catchy songs are especially well, catchy, causing the brain to latch onto that memory. Earworms are related to our evolutionary survival instincts.

But there’s more to earworms than that. More next time.